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zakruti.com » Sport, fitness, workout » Jeff Cavalier
The ONLY 2 Dumbbell Triceps Exercises You Need (NO, SERIOUSLY)

The ONLY 2 Dumbbell Triceps Exercises You Need (NO, SERIOUSLY)

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1
Get big triceps here - Subscribe to the channel here - What if I told you that here were only 2 dumbbell triceps exercises you need to grow bigger triceps, would you believe me In this video, I am going to show you how only two dumbbell triceps exercises are all that is required to build big triceps. Remember, it comes down to not only the choice of the exercise you make, but how do them that makes all the difference. The first exercise out of the only 2 dumbbell triceps exercises you need to build bigger triceps is a variation of an already popular triceps exercise. You might recognize this exercise as the dumbbell overhead triceps extension where you stand in space and hold a single dumbbell behind your head with both hands. This is a great exercise for targeting the long head of the triceps - the head of the muscle that makes up the most size of the triceps. However, for many with limited shoulder mobility, it causes shoulder discomfort with the arms up overhead and with hands back behind the head. This can be fixed by making one big alteration to the exercise; using an incline bench. By leaning back against an incline bench, you provide your shoulders with a much more comfortable position where your arms are not directly overhead, but rather slightly in front of you. This eliminates the shoulder discomfort but allows for enough stretch on the long head of the triceps that you will still see the benefits of the exercise. This more natural, comfortable position will also allow you to keep your elbows pointing straight forward instead of flaring them. This means that you are remaining in the scapular plane and are preventing internal rotation of the shoulder joint with elevation. There is also an added safety factor to this version of the exercise outside of the shoulder positioning that will allow you to keep building big triceps as time goes on. The incline version of this exercise allows for enough clearance so that you don't ever hit your head with the dumbbell at any point in the range of motion. Add in that once you reach failure, you don't have to worry about dropping the dumbbell. Instead, simply slide down the bench and allow the dumbbell to catch itself on the top of the bench where you will easily be able to manipulate the dumbbell in space, safely. The second exercise of the only 2 dumbbell tricep exercises you need is one you might have stopped doing a long time ago: the tricep kickback. The kickback gets a bad rap from many online influencers and keyboard scientists arguing that active insufficiency makes the exercise worthless. Basically, they are saying that you are actively minimizing the amount of force the triceps can produce and thus you must subjugate yourself to light weights that won't build muscle. If active insufficiency was a real problem, then we should be avoiding exercises like leg extensions and preacher curls because they don't allow you to lift as much weight as a barbell squat or curl. The argument against the kickback is flawed because muscles don't know what weight is measured on the side of the dumbbell, but instead respond to overall tension. If the triceps are subjected to high tension due to muscle length shortening plus the weight of the dumbbell, we still have an opportunity to build muscle. The kickback works as perfect compliment to the incline powerbomb because while we have trained the triceps with the long head on stretch, we need an exercise that trains the triceps with the long head in it's most shortened / contracted position. This requires getting the elbow and shoulder into extension (meaning your arm goes back behind your body. We are going to utilize the incline bench once again, but this time, we are going to lower the incline to about 30 degrees. This is the perfect position to assume the proper posture and arm position required to make the kickback as effective as possible. This incline will allow for your triceps to be perfectly parallel with the floor when you reach the top end of the range of motion. Hold the rep at the top for a second or two and realize exactly what you've been missing by skipping this incredible triceps exercise. With those two exercise, you are training the long head of the triceps on stretch and in peak contraction - covering the whole range of motion of the triceps in order to build bigger triceps.
Date: 2026-10-28

Comments and reviews: 20


Wish I could communicate with Jeff about this. Sorry it’s off topic of this video.
I found a squishy lump on my left Adonis belt. Can’t see it when I lay down. Doctor only checked it while I was laying down and didn’t feel it but based off what I told her she said it was an Inguinal hernia. Ultrasound showed no hernia but I know hernias can slip back in during ultrasound. Surgeon said no hernia but it’s bulged varicose vein. I swear I feel a bulge under the vein. My left inguinal canal/ Adonis belt is more noticeable as well. I’m scared doing core workouts and squats because my job is very strenuous and I’m self employed so I don’t want to make this worse if it is a small hernia because I’d lose out on 2 months of work if I end up needing surgery.
Would you trust the ultrasound and surgeon and the fact the first doctor didn’t actually feel anything It’s driving me crazy. Looks like a bulge and feels like one. If I stand tall and flex it goes away
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i think the reason a lot of people give up lifting, is because the 3x a week, for 45 minutes, isnt practical for most people. they get bored or lose motivation etc. a study i read says if you workout a muscle 1x a week, you get x amount of gain. if you work it out 2x a week, you DONT get 2x gain. 3x a week, nope, NOT 3x gain. working out 2x a week gets you 50% more vs 1x a week. 3x a week gets you 30% more than that. it tapers off. so i started working out daily, 1 body part per day. its 3 or 4 exercises per day, using dumbbells, and it only takes about 12 minutes. been doing it for 3 or 4 years. and if i get too busy and miss a day, its easy to make up for it. the short daily workouts and the results KEEP me motivated.
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thank you Jeff, both of these i've been doing standing and yup posture works against me. question my left leg around my hip joint feels tight, i dont have the same range of motion in my left leg as i do in my right and feels like a tendon or muscle impedes the range of motion on the groin side but still primarily center front of my leg. to better describe it it feels like it is pulling into my back causing me to lean left when standing straight up and that my left leg needs to be pulled down yet i cant seem to do any exercise that addresses it. any advice aside from a doctors visit will be awesome and appreciated.
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Really appreciated your scientific breakdown on ATHLEAN-X regarding how just two dumbbell exercisesthe inclined dumbbell overhead extension (to target the long head in a stretched position) and the bench-supported tricep kickback (for peak contraction)are all you need for complete tricep development without joint stress. While watching, I thought about how the thumbnail could visually highlight that precise form and targeted muscle growth even more clearly, so I put together a custom redesign specifically for this videowhat would be the easiest way for me to send it over for you to take a look
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The incline bench fix for the overhead extension is underrated. Most people quit that movement because their shoulders hate the fully overhead position, not because it stops working. Leaning back about 45 degrees keeps the long head on stretch and the elbows pointing forward. One thing worth adding for anyone with a small home setup: a single heavy dumbbell held in both hands lets you go heavier than the two-dumbbell version with less elbow drift. Jeff, do you still have people run the kickback version as a finisher, or is the stretch work enough on its own
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athleanx First time comment here but been watching since your early days. I did the incline triceps overhead extension exactly like you show in the video with separate dumbells for years. I stopped last year because of pain and clicking in my left elbow at the the bottom of the rep and coming out of it. Now I just do lying extensions on a flat bench instead, it works just fine, but I miss being able to do extensions with an upright torso or on an incline. Can you please tell me why that started to happen or any way to fix it Great work all these years
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I’ve been doing the overhead raise for months, except that I’ve been sitting straight up on a bench and lowering the dumbbell until it would touch my back. I’ve really felt that in my triceps, but I’ve never experienced the soreness in the long head of my triceps like I now have after doing the incline bench version for the first time! I can’t believe how sore I am. I’m excited to see how much my triceps grow over the next few months, using the incline bench version. Thank you Athlean!
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Jeff's videos are generally pretty informative, I have watched many over the years. I am now going to log onto another site that will tell me these two exercise's are useless for building triceps and I need to do pushdowns and lying triceps extensions. There are so many 'don't do that do this' videos its quite mad. I now train my left leg on the second Thursday of every month and do three press ups every fourth Sunday. The gains are off the scale! LOL.
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I personally prefer a cable extension for the triceps, just remembering to keep my elbow back to get the max contraction. Unless I can get ahold of two ropes like Jeff does with the facepulls, I do one arm at a time otherwise I can't maximize the contraction. But it's effectively the same exercise as a dumbbell kickback (if not better. I've found that fortunately there's almost always an alternative way to do an exercise if one variant doesn't really click for you.
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Hey Jeff, I really appreciate these two exercise instructional videos. I don’t know he have the time to do a full workout so these are really helpful to me and making sure that I can hit the targeted muscle group that I want and I get in and out with the workout. Appreciate that so much, shout out to Jesse where’s the intros Jesse
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Hi Jeff. As always a great video. Thank you. But what's happening with the piano music in the background, which you have used on a few videos now It sounds like it belongs in a re-make of The Exorcist! I would prefer to listen to what you're saying without distractions. Many thanks.
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Appreciate how short and focused this is narrowing it to just the overhead dumbbell extension and the incline kickback makes it easy to add to a push day without overthinking triceps. The cue to keep the elbow back really helped me feel it in the long head instead of my shoulders.
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Single dumbell overhead extension is fine for beginners but becomes incredibly cumbersome and dangerous when you're trying to manage a heavier dumbelll which happens pretty quick as its just a single weight, so do the same thing with 2 dumbells to split weight
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Yknow, Ive been training for the last 55yrs. - and it never occured to me to use these exercises in the way that youve described and demonstrated, Ill try these for the next month and tell you how Ive got on, thanks for the info.
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SInce i don't have a bench at home, I do kickbacks as single arm version (in a tripod position, similiar as single arm DB rows. I have the feeling that this gives me better control over my posture, especially my back.
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Love these two triceps exercises, but I think doing a cable variation (if your gym has the option) of these exact exercises (especially the kickbacks) would create more time under tension and maximize gains!
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Jeff is a highly underrated fitness influencer, he has a lot of life experience, training, and education under his belt unlike many others who are more popular that I won't mention but if you know you know.
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kickbacks are terrible because your shoulder quits well before your triceps do. Standing single arm or double arm cross-body cable triceps extension are used by the pros for this very reason
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Sorry Jeff, but if one has access to that bench and appropriate dumbbells for those two exercises, they prolly have access to a gym also. You should talk about something like a cable kickback
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I always come back to you when I need to freshen up the routine or I find I have to refocus on myself or a new problem area. These are great, keep them coming. Love all the two exercise vids.
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